Video and photo gallery: What did the Norwich children who took over the Evening News yesterday think of their day

The six children who edited the Evening News yesterday, as a reward for raising thousands of pounds at a charity ball, were asked to write a short story about their experience, as their final task of the day.

The youngsters – Callum Metcalf, 11, Sophie Mottholie, 10, Lucy Brock, 10, Emily Cushion, eight, Adam Cork, nine, and Rebecca Cator, nine – had organised a charity ball at Dunston Hall before Christmas, which raised more than £7,000, and we let them come in and edit the paper, and choose the front page, as their reward.

Aged from eight to 11 and from Kinsale Junior School’s Aquila Club, they decided on a story about the launch of the Evening News’ Comic Relief campaign, which starts today, as their front page.

And this is what they said:

Adam Cork

“It was not what I expected. There are a lot more computers than I thought and lots of people. The best thing was everything, it was all amazing. We got to pick a story and went into the editor’s office. We saw our pictures on the website and that appeared very quickly. The vox pop was fun, meeting and taking pictures of members of the public. The day has been amazing.”

Rebecca Cator

“Today was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I became an editor for the day. It was very exciting and we did a lot of things. Firstly, we got to know each other. Next we had a conference and after that we discussed what we were doing for the rest of the day. We had to go out on to the street to do a vox pop, which means getting people’s opinions. We were outside for quite a while talking to people because no one seemed to want to stop. We went back to the office to write our reports. Even though we did a lot of talking and typing, we still had lots of fun!”

Lucy Brock

“Today we were invited to become an editor for a day. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, unless you happen to be a newspaper editor! Before I arrived I felt like it was going to be busy and loud, but it’s a calm and quiet work space where it is easy to concentrate. It is also a very friendly environment.

“We started the day being introduced to a few of the staff and they were all very welcoming. Next we thought of six ideas we would want to include in a newspaper. We came up with catchy headlines and fun, informative stories with good pictures which would be interesting to the majority of the audience. Everyone agreed on these.

“After that, we spoke with more staff, which helped us a lot. We spoke about the headlines and stories for the day. Then we went into another room and decided on the front page stories and what would go on the empty pages. We all picked a story and wrote a few sentences about what we thought of it.

“Then we went out to do a vox pop. That’s where you ask members of the public for their views on the story. Then we came back and enjoyed lunch with the editor. Yummy!”

Emily Cushion

“Before we came I was a little scared because I didn’t know what was going to happen. When we got there we met David, who works for the newspaper. After that we had to go to the editor’s office to see what we were going to do.

“Then we went to conference, where we saw some stories which we could include in the newspaper. A short while after, we went to go and try and decide which story would go on the front of the newspaper.

“Then we went outside to find people for our vox pop. Vox Pop is Latin for voice of people. We had to ask people what they thought about charity fundraising. Throughout the day David was putting our latest activities on twitter! “Then we wrote about the stories we chose. Afterwards, we had lunch with the editor. Next we typed up our day and had a conference afterwards. In there we talked about what was going in the newspaper. Sadly, then it was time to go. We had a fantastic day.”

Callum Metcalf

“At the start of the day I felt excited. I started by introducing myself. After that we had a conference to discuss the news.

“Then a picture of me appeared on twitter and I did a vox pop on Gentleman’s Walk with David Powles. We then had lunch, which was very nice. After lunch we had another conference. The day has been great.”

Sophie Mattholie

“I was really exited at the beginning of the day. When we got there, David Powles came to greet us. David said that we were his bosses and that we could boss him around.

“Our first job of the day was to go to a conference. We were told what was planned for the day. After that, we talked about what we thought should be on the front page. It was fun telling everyone what we wanted and getting a free choice.

“Next, we went outside to do a vox pop. We asked people their names, age, where they were from and why they think it is important to support charities. It was very hard to get people to speak to us, as they were very busy.

“When we got inside, we wrote about our favourite stories. The office was very quiet. Once we had finished, we had lunch with the editor, Nigel Pickover. The food was delicious. Finally, we wrote our own newspaper reports.